Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 Beginner: Getting Started

Name: Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 Beginner: Getting Started
Author: Erin Sullivan

Learn the interface and basics of creating and saving a PowerPoint presentation

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Course: On-Demand

Oh, my name is Erin Sullivan. In these lessons, we will be looking at the Microsoft PowerPoint interface, some new features in PowerPoint 2021, creating new presentations and opening existing presentations, slide basics, and saving a presentation. Let's get started. This is the Microsoft PowerPoint interface. At the top of the interface, we have our title bar. It tells you the name of your presentation, and the software which you are working in, which is Microsoft PowerPoint. Over to the right, we have the close, the restore, and minimize buttons. Also on the title bar, you'll see over the left the quick access toolbar. We'll tell you a little bit more about that later. Below the title bar, we have what is referred to as our ribbon. On our ribbon, we have tabs, and on our tabs, we have groups. The tabs are the home tab, insert tab, draw, design, transition, etc. All of the words across the top represent the different tabs. Each tab is divided into groups. For example, on the home tab, we have the clipboard group, the slides group, the font group, the paragraph group, the drawing group, and the editing group. In each group, you have different tools. Now, your screen may look slightly different than mine, because it's based on the size of your screen as to the size of the buttons on the ribbon. Sometimes you're going to see full size buttons. Like you can see in the slides group, I have the new slide button. Sometimes you'll see smaller buttons with the title of the button to the right of it, such as in the slides group where I have the layout button, the reset button, and the section button. But sometimes you'll see just the button and no word next to it. All of this depends on the size of your monitor. All of the buttons will be there in your screen. They just may look slightly different. When you see a button on the ribbon and you're not sure what it does, you can always rest your mouse over that button. And when you do, it will give you a tooltip that tells you what that button does. So for example, my mouse is currently resting over the bold button. It tells me that it will make my text bold. In parentheses, it also shows me a keyboard shortcut. Some of our groups on our ribbon in the lower right hand corner have a dialog box launcher button. You'll notice the slides group does not, but the font group does. What that button will do, and if you rest your mouse over it gives you a definition, it will allow you to have more tools than what are visible on the ribbon. So if I click, for example, that font dialog box launcher button, it opens up the font dialog box. All of the tools in the ribbon are available in the dialog box, but there may be a couple of extra tools in the dialog box. One thing I like to say is there's at least three ways to do everything in a Microsoft product, so I may show you multiple ways to do things. All right, I'm going to press cancel to close this dialog box. Continuing on with the rest of our interface, we will see that we have in the middle the largest area is our slide area. It has placeholders for our text, and it tells us the directions of click to add title, click to add subtitle. Those boxes are placeholders for text. On the left, we have slide navigation. This presentation currently has one slide, so there's only one slide over here. We also have rulers to help us when we are working on our slide. Below our slide, we have our different view options. We have the notes view, which when I click that button, it changes the view we are looking at so that I can see my notes pane down here. Now you'll notice it says click to add notes. After the notes view, we have what is referred to as the slide sorter view. Again, notice the tool tip when I place my mouse over the button. So when I click on the slide sorter view, it shows me just the slides in my presentation. I can switch between views very easily by clicking on any of those buttons. I go back to the normal view, and this is the default view that you will see. Then I also have a reading view and a presentation or slideshow view, which will allow you to start your slideshow when you've completed a presentation. Also down here we have our zoom, and you'll see there is a plus, a slide bar, and a minus. You can click and drag the slide bar to zoom. You'll see that changes my zoom in and out by clicking that slide bar. I can also click on the minus or the plus. And you'll notice that in the lower right hand corner, there's also the zoom level. And it right now, I'm at 100% if I click on that. It opens up a dialog box where I can manually change my zoom. Let's say I choose 200% and then I can click OK. And it will change my zoom. So there are three different ways that we can change our zoom right there. Clicking on the buttons, clicking and dragging the slide bar, or clicking on the zoom level percentage button. That is our PowerPoint interface. Thank you for joining us for this lesson.

Beginner Provider : Erin Sullivan 4 Lessons · 14m in English

Course Description

The focus of this module is to learn the basic skills needed to be productive using Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 to create slideshows. This module is the first step in creating captivating presentations. You will delve into Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 by learning the interface. You will learn about the tools and the ribbon. This module covers how to use features like zoom and how to edit slides in a presentation. This module introduces some of the accessibility features and drawing tools that are new to this release.

In this module, you will also learn how to create a basic PowerPoint presentation from scratch. After creating your presentation, you will also learn the ways you can save your presentation so that you can open it in the future to present or to continue working on the presentation. After completing this module, you should be confident in creating, saving, and opening PowerPoint presentations.

What You'll Learn

Identify the elements of the Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 interface, including the tools and the ribbon
Explore the new features introduced in PowerPoint 2021, including accessibility features and drawing tools
Create a basic PowerPoint presentation from scratch
Open existing PowerPoint presentations to present or continue working on them
Save presentations so they can be reopened in the future
Edit slides and use features such as zoom within a presentation

Key Takeaways

This module is the first step toward creating captivating presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint 2021.
Learners focus on the basic skills needed to be productive when creating slideshows.
The module introduces accessibility features and drawing tools that are new to this release of PowerPoint.
After completing the module, learners should be confident in creating, saving, and opening PowerPoint presentations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this PowerPoint 2021 module for?

It is designed for beginners getting started with Microsoft PowerPoint 2021, as it covers the basic skills needed to be productive when creating slideshows. It is the first step in creating captivating presentations.

What topics does this module cover?

The module covers the PowerPoint interface, the tools and ribbon, new features in PowerPoint 2021, using features like zoom, editing slides, accessibility features and drawing tools new to this release, and creating, opening, and saving presentations.

What skills will I gain from this module?

You will gain skills in Microsoft PowerPoint, PowerPoint Animation, and Slide Shows, and should be confident in creating, saving, and opening PowerPoint presentations.

What lessons are included in this module?

The lessons are: PowerPoint Interface; New Features in PowerPoint 2021; Creating New Presentations and Opening Existing Presentations; and Saving a presentation.